Are more CIOs seeking public-sector roles?

Moving to state IT could be a trend for CIOIs

By Martin Veitch

June 8, 2009

CIO

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If you're an ambitious CIO, which sector should you be looking at to find a challenging, exciting, high-profile role? Banking and financial services are in turmoil. Retail is also in tumult and consolidating.Leisure is tough. Media is in a chaotic to reinvent itself. Telecoms is a bloodbath. Technology is a bit too close to home. Manufacturing and FMCG have become dominated by SAP projects. Construction... don't even go there. So how about the public sector?

Well, it's a bit early for empirical evidence but I've met several CIOs that have recently moved from private to public-sector roles for the first time, and it seems to me that they have been motivated by a combination of factors. Some feel that a public-sector job will give them a chance to put something back and make life better for tax payers. Others see a ton of opportunity to suck out costs, automate and generally bring enterprise IT nous to environments that have been stagnating. And frankly, some see a state job as being a solid option at a time when the private sector is in a scary place.

It will be interesting to see at the end of the year whether this is becoming a significant trend.